ANNA, Ill. — An Illinois man faces charges of attempted murder in a brutal beating Sept. 28 on two women in a small-town Southern Baptist church. Willis Bates, 45, of Anna, is accused of attacking 69-year-old Mary Shepard and 76-year-old Leona Mount while burglarizing First Baptist Church, Anna. He is being held at Tri-County Detention Center in nearby Ullin on $1 million bond. A second man, 23-year-old Jared Garver, is charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly hiding Bates and lying to police.
Arrest warrants claim that Bates repeatedly kicked the heads and bodies of Shepard, the church treasurer, and Mount, a maintenance worker, before getting away with less than $600. Both women were taken by ambulance to Union County Hospital in Anna and airlifted to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Shepard remained there, while Mount was transferred to St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis. Both women are expected to recover, a fact that church members are calling a miracle.
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